Friday 29 April 2016

Guinness Africa



I have absolutely no idea what kind of super secret African ingredients are in Guinness Africa but man oh man I think I need a bottle right now. What a little cracker of a film! 

Thursday 28 April 2016

Brainstorm of brain fade?

 If there's one thing in agency life I've never been a fan of it's brainstorming.

They always sound like a good idea. But sooner or later I find myself sitting with a group of people in a room wondering what on earth I'm doing there.

Knocking ideas around with a collaborator or colleague always helps make ideas happen.

But brainstorms?

Not in my experience.

Sure they produce ideas. But better than I could come up with at the pub with an art director?

I think not.

Wednesday 27 April 2016

Draplin - The book

 I sent my creative team to a talk by Aaron Draplin last year.

To say they came back inspired is an understatement.

Now he has a book coming out.

Much excitement. Plus it's not too expensive.

Can't wait!


Tuesday 26 April 2016

Use colour with care



Monday 25 April 2016

AC Milan and The Haka



AC Milan. 18 Italian titles. 5 Italian cups. 7 times champions of Europe.

And they go and do something as dumb, lame and culturally insensitive as this stunt for Nivea.

Surely they don't need the money that badly. Do they? 

Friday 22 April 2016

Kobe the conductor



Baseball. Gridiron. Basketball.

I have no interest in American sports.

And yet I absolutely love when Nike make ads about it.

This farewell Kobe Bryant spot is a great case in point.

You don't need to know who he is or what sport he plays.

It's obvious he's one of those players that's so good that everyone that hates him also has a begrudging respect for him.

Nice one Nike! 

Thursday 21 April 2016

Here we go again...

These neatly typeset statements are head every day in agencies and design studios across the globe.

In fact you could say some things never change.

Why is it like this?

Well if I knew the answer I'd tell you.

But I don't. So just enjoy this small selection from an even bigger selection from Canva Design School.


Wednesday 20 April 2016

Agency wildlife



Agency life reimagined as a series of Attenborough style wildlife documentaries by US agency The Variable.


Tuesday 19 April 2016

A copywriting computer?

Over the last few years technology has impacted many industries and also the jobs within those industries.

Creative types like myself generally feel pretty safe in what we do as computers can't do what we do.

Well not yet anyway...

A company called Persado has been developing (or should I say has developed) software that can write what co-founder Assaf Baciu refers to as cognitive content.

I honestly have no idea what cognitive content is by according to Baciu it's copywriting that is primed to get people engaged.

Based on my experience that's exactly what the job description of a copywriter says a copywriter does.

Yikes!

The Persado algorithm must have something going for it as no less than Goldman Sachs recently led a $30,000,000 round of investment in it.

I wouldn't be surprised to see more and more of this sort of thing in the future. However I doubt it's going to replace real copywriters.

It may take a lot of low end copywriting jobs.

But truly creative writers, those who know how to entice and engage by thinking differently will always have a role in the marketing mix. 

Monday 18 April 2016

Neither hot or spicy

This apparently is what passes for creative thinking in Australian adland in 2016.

Bit sad really. Don't you think? 

Friday 15 April 2016

Small but nice hotels

I kinda like this campaign for Small Luxury Hotels.

No image. Lots of attitude.

Pretty much the same strategy as the ultra budget Hans Brinker hotel.

But with a bit more class.

Love your work McCann Bristol.


Thursday 14 April 2016

Bonus Cookie Monster!



Hot on the heels of the viral success of the Apple spot with Cookie Monster comes a fantastic collection of behind the scenes out-takes.

Of course he's not a real actor. So they can hardly be real out-takes. But man oh man they sure are fun. 

Wednesday 13 April 2016

BrandDNA on Reputation Revolution



I chewed the fat last week with my friend Trevor Young for his always interesting Reputation Revolution podcast.

We touch on a range of topics including creativity, personal branding, having an opinion and more.

People tell me it's a pretty good listen. And who am I to argue? 

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Bland experiences

In my opinion the advertising industry has never been so cliché riddled.

Social media gurus. Digital evangelists. Content marketers. Etc etc.

Now comes exactly what the industry needs.

Digital Blanding.

Click here and read all about.

It's genius I tell ya. genius.

Monday 11 April 2016

Youngs pubs get a makeover



Always had a fascination for the names of pubs in England.

Not to mention the signage usually found  suspended over the door.

This short film shares some of the work that went into a recent revamp of the livery of every pub in the Youngs network.

Sadly it's nowhere near long enough and left me hanging out more more. Oh well... 

Friday 8 April 2016

Failure = You're Trying



Thursday 7 April 2016

Ultimate nineties

My daughter sent me this pic.

Does it get any more nineties than this?

VHS tape - Tick.

Windows 95 - Tick.

Cast of Friends - Tick.

All that's missing really is the theme music from Never Ending Story

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Eye catching yoghurt

I've worked on two yoghurt brands in my career.

Each of them had clients who were fixated on us using the words natural and goodness.

Which meant that it was very difficult to do something different.

Something that would catch the eye as soon as you turned the page.

So kudos to the team at Saatchi Stockholm for this lovely work on Verum yoghurt.


Tuesday 5 April 2016

Cookie Monster & Siri



When you have nothing to say use showmanship.

Still made me laugh though! 

Monday 4 April 2016

Romanian advertising adds up

Kids in Romania are crazy about football.

But not so keen on maths.

So someone had the crazy idea of promoting maths via the Romanian team jerseys.

Pretty clever huh?

I'm not convinced it's going to help reduce the number of kids struggling with maths at school.

But it sure is a good way to generate publicity around the UNESCO figure of one in four kids being unable to solve relatively basic maths problems.


Friday 1 April 2016

McDonalds recruits via Anime



McDonalds in Japan do teen recruitment a little differently to the rest of the world.

They do anime style.

It's all a bit cringey if you ask me.

Then again I'm not a teen so what would I know.

Tagline translates to something along the lines of: Connect to the future you.